HONOLULU – Attorney General Doug Chin announced that Mary Jane Delgado Ponce received today the maximum sentence of five years in prison for theft in the second degree, a class C felony.

On October 26, 2016, an Oahu jury found Ponce guilty of obtaining thousands of dollars in food stamp benefits from the state of Hawaii by deception. State circuit judge Shirley M. Kawamura presided over the trial and sentencing. As a repeat offender, Ponce must serve a minimum of 20 months before being eligible for parole.

From April 1, 2010 through April 30, 2014, Ponce, also known as Mary Jane Dalumpinis, was overpaid $3,723.00 in food stamp benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Ponce was overpaid because she did not disclose to state officials that she was married.

Attorney General Chin said “This defendant was previously convicted of welfare fraud in 2009 and began defrauding the state again one year later. People should not steal public funds and abuse this important social safety net.”

SNAP is administered by the state department of human services. It provides food and nutritional support to qualifying low-income and needy households. In fiscal year 2014, SNAP helped an estimated 193,565 state residents (98,440 families).